Skip to content

Studies & Degrees in Gerontology

Gerontology is the study of ageing: the biological, psychological and social changes that people go through as they grow older, and the effects of an ageing population on families, services and public policy. It is not the same as geriatrics, which is the branch of medicine that treats illness in older people. The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), founded in 1945 and described by itself as the oldest and largest interdisciplinary organisation in the field of ageing, brings together behavioural and social scientists, physicians, nurses, biologists, psychologists, social workers, educators and economists.

The subject matters because populations are ageing. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the proportion of the world's population over 60 years will nearly double between 2015 and 2050, from 12% to 22%, and by 2030 one in six people in the world will be aged 60 or over. In Spain, the national statistics office (INE) projects that the share of the population aged 65 and over, 20.4% in its 2024 projections, would reach a maximum of 30.5% around 2055.

What students learn

Programmes combine three strands. The biological strand explains ageing itself; the WHO describes it as the result of the accumulation of molecular and cellular damage over time. The psychological strand covers cognition, mental health and adaptation in later life. The social strand deals with care systems, pensions, law, housing and policy. The official master's degree of the Universidad de Granada, for example, analyses ageing and dependency from health and social care, legal, psychological, medical, economic and demographic angles, with compulsory subjects that include health care for the older population, psychology and ageing, and social security law.

Qualifications and levels

  • Certificates and associate degrees. In the United States, community colleges teach gerontology at this level. American River College in Sacramento offers associate of arts degrees in gerontology with specialisations in administration, advocacy and social policy, case management and social services, geriatric health care, and recreation. The college states that its curricula follow the competencies published by the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), the educational branch of the GSA, and that the degrees prepare students for employment or for transfer to a university.
  • Vocational training in Spain. Direct care work is taught in vocational training (FP). The intermediate-level qualification Técnico en Atención a Personas en Situación de Dependencia lasts 2,000 hours and leads to jobs such as floor assistant in residences for older people, according to TodoFP, the Ministry of Education's portal.
  • Bachelor's degree. Students usually take a degree in nursing, psychology, social work or a related field and specialise afterwards. In Spain an official bachelor's degree (grado) has 240 ECTS credits.
  • Master's degree. This is the most common level for a named gerontology qualification. The Máster Universitario en Gerontología, Dependencia y Protección de los Mayores of the Universidad de Granada has 60 ECTS credits and gives access to doctoral studies. Its admission rules give high preference to graduates in fields such as nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, social work, law, medicine and psychology. FUNIBER, in Barcelona, lists gerontology among the areas of its online master's programmes in health.
  • Doctorate and research training. The Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University in Detroit focuses on research, pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training, community outreach and continuing education for health care providers.

Where to study it

This directory lists 49 active schools for gerontology. Thirty are in the United States and nine in Spain, followed by Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom with two each, and Argentina, Ireland, Australia, Finland, Ukraine and Brazil with one each. Schools in the United States include San Diego State University, Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, the University of North Carolina Wilmington, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In Spain the list includes the Universidad de Granada, the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM) and the Universidad de La Laguna, which teach in Spanish. The University of Jyväskylä is the school listed in Finland.

Careers

Gerontology graduates work where older people live and receive services. The Universidad de Granada lists residential centres, day-care units, hospitals, home care, senior centres and social services, as well as research through a doctorate. The post a graduate can hold usually depends on the first qualification: a nurse, a psychologist or a lawyer with gerontology training keeps working within that profession.

There is no separate official employment statistic for gerontologists. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes projections for related occupations for 2025 to 2035: employment of medical and health services managers, who work in facilities that include hospitals and nursing homes, is projected to grow 24 percent; social and human service assistants, 7 percent; and social workers, 6 percent. The BLS notes that healthcare social workers will continue to be needed to help ageing populations and their families.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between gerontology and geriatrics?

Gerontology studies ageing in all its aspects: biological, psychological and social. Geriatrics is a medical specialty that diagnoses and treats illness in older people, so it requires a medical degree.

Do I need a health degree to study a master's in gerontology?

Not necessarily. The official master's of the Universidad de Granada gives high preference to graduates in nursing, medicine and psychology, and also in law, social work and business administration.

How long does a master's in gerontology take in Spain?

Official master's degrees in Spain have 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits. The gerontology master's of the Universidad de Granada has 60 ECTS credits.